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Lathe Turned Radio Knobs
Matched Knob Sets for Your Radio Projects
Having a lathe available has added yet another dimension to the Ham Radio hobby. Now I can make matching sets of lathe-turned knobs for my projects.
Various materials can be employed to make turned radio knobs. Aluminium is an obvious choice, but hardwood, various plastics, fiberglass, and even steel are candidates for becoming knobs.
Once turned on the lathe, you can also add mountings for knob skirts and pointers. Old CD-ROM disks make quite good skirts for your knobs.
These 5/8 inch diameter by 3/4 inch long knobs were turned from cut sections of a fiberglass fence post that was obtained from the local farm supply store.
After cutting the fiberglass rod to length, these blanks were chucked in the lathe and the ends trued. A 1/4 inch drill was used in the tailstock drill holder to bore the shaft hole 5/8 inch into one end of the blank. Then each knob was taken to the drill press where a 1/8 inch diameter hole was drilled, then tapped, for a 6/32 socket-head set screw. Set screws seem to hold quite well in the fiberglass material.
Last steps were to give each new knob a coat of white paint, and after dry, use a ruler and permanent market pen to apply the index lines.
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